More Bones - Hardcover

Olson, Arielle North; Schwartz, Howard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670063398 ISBN 13: 9780670063390

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2008

Synopsis

Ready for scary?!

Shhh! Have you heard about the man who marries . . . a corpse?! Or what about the magic school where one student in every class is never allowed to leave? Or the beautiful red-haired maiden whose hair is actually serpents? Many of these tales go back hundreds of years and to the farthest corners of the earth, but as diverse as they are, they also reveal one important truth: everyone loves a scary story. The authors have dug deeply?from Egypt to Iceland?to find the spookiest stories for More Bones. Listen! Can you hear the bones beginning to rattle?

About this title

About the Author

Howard Schwartz also lives in Missouri.

Reviews

Grade 4–6—According to the source notes, many of these 22 selections are drawn from 19th-century collections. The assortment ranges from stories that utilize traditional folktale elements such as granted wishes, witches, and wizards to others featuring ghosts and corpses. "The Headless Horseman" (Ireland), "The Shaggy Gray Arm" (Iceland), "The Werewolf in the Forest" (Eastern Europe), and "The Ghost of the Rainbow Maiden" (Hawaii) are among the creepy entries. Gist's dark, smudgy illustrations may prove more frightening than the tales themselves. Give the book to fans of Alvin Schwartz's "Scary Stories" (HarperCollins).—Laurie Slagenwhite, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A sequel to Ask the Bones (1999), this tour of the world’s shadowy corners is full of dark wizards, unkind witches, and other untrustworthy creatures. No matter if the stories originate from Ireland, Iceland, China, or Turkey, they all offer up similar lessons: don’t try to outsmart magical beings, for example. The 22 tales, as retold by Olson and Schwartz, give a vivid glimpse into unfamiliar, unnerving territory, but they are short, so they won’t draw young readers too deeply into nightmarish worlds. The atmospheric illustrations, while not intricately detailed, are somewhat startling in their imagery: a skull featuring a single, staring eyeball or a close-up of an aggressive rat’s snarling head. Olson and Schwartz sometimes end their stories with a direct question that adds more shivers; after one tale about a skull that is searching for a new family to haunt, the text asks, “How about yours?” In other selections, plot twists, transformations, and other mysteries are left to be pondered over, probably at bedtime. Full source notes for the stories are provided in an appendix. Grades 4-7. --Abby Nolan

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670063398
• ISBN 13: 9780670063390
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Gist E.M.
• Number of pages: 176